357. Wilde Jagd, 8

(Rose)

When Ana returned from her morning hunt, she found us in an abnormal state. Our clothes were ripped, our bodies trembling and pale, feeling cold.

I was still panicking, thinking it was impossible. I urged Ana to fly after him.

To follow him cautiously and report to us his doings. She nodded and flew away.

Bleue was still in complete shock, unable to react. I shook her up.

B - I know dreams can become real... But... Not like that...

R - It's not a dream, it's a daiûa! Another of them was born around here and just swallowed our dreams. It's not Judge, it's a being-like-her using that story as a memory to imitate an identity. It's just a beast and we have to stop it!

B - But... Should we? If it's just another one of them and not really our creation?

R - Because it thinks it is Judge! It has the same goals!

Bleue became livid. Oh goodness...

B - We have to stop him!

Exactly...

The sky is grey as if it would rain. We're recovering our strength though. We're arranging ourselves and packing up rapidly. The artefacts are all gone...

B - How can something like that happen... It's so surreal...

R - It's less that we wished for it and more that a spore of a being-like-her was at the right place and right time. It found these random materials to grow abruptly. Our memories, and the artefacts we had. That's all that was required...

B - The right circumstances... I'm so shocked.

It really isn't anything new to us.

But the form it took today was abrupt and violent.

And the path it chose...

We must stop it before it breaks something really bad.

Ana returns before the end of the day. She did her job well.

Judge settled over a tower, in the middle of a cursed zone not far away.

~

After the white day, many of the cities that were crowded became toxic in many ways.

Cities that were already empty before were mostly untouched or almost. But those inhabited suffered more drastic changes and creations.

Many of these cities got flooded with various kinds of malice. And many of them have a swampy curse lingering even to this day, keeping most travellers away, unconsciously or cautiously.

Like a smell of innumerable deaths in the distance, it affects you on a subconscious, primary level, and you just don't go that way, even if you're unsure why.

Now that we're aware of that instinct and why, we can go against it if we chose to. We fight the anxiogenic nausea and then the invisible miasma.

Farther north and east from here, there once was a large city. It is one of these cursed places, where too many people died in a short period of time while magic was in some way released unto the world, flooding it. My first days in this world were similar to everyone on the planet when the white day occurred.

Death rising monsters. Domains where the new world affected the rule of the laws of physics, of reality. Up to a point where the monsters only envisioned in your worst nightmares could suddenly come out of your own body, like a parasite getting free and mature.

Judge chose one of these places where the smell of death from the past still lingers.

And in the middle of it, one of the tallest skyscrapers still standing became his tower.

The tower... The towers of hell? Or just a throne?

Whatever Judge wants to try doing, I don't feel like I could just dismiss it.

We're at fault. I feel responsible.

And I would hate what would happen if I don't react now. Because this lost child is heading straight and blind onto the path of becoming a demon of the worst kind.

So we're going there. Trembling, but we're going.

If we were to wait a year, this land would become his domain of domination.

And over time, there's only one thing a blind organism wants to do.

Expand, and probably multiply.

I can't allow it. Not this one. Not this kind. You're too much of everything I hate.

~

Bleue still has her eyes with the other sight. So I sent her looking elsewhere to recover another artefact.

There's a chance she can find what is akin to a powerful weapon forgotten in the nearby area. She can see other unidentified glows here and there, weaker, smaller, faint, but perhaps the main one is strong enough to help us.

And it's probably better to recover it before something else considers it.

Ana will help Bleue.

Meanwhile, I will buy us some time.

Bleue heard there in my plan the repeat of a stupid idea.

We argued before she left.

B - How reckless can you be!

R - I have to do it! I can't stand it! Don't underestimate me!

B - Look at yourself!

R - You have no idea what I can survive! I don't need magic to know this daiûa is still weak, too weak. The longer we wait, the worse it will become.

B - Aren't you becoming arrogant? Proud? You're just running toward danger blindly thinking you're stronger and smarter. You'll get killed!

R - Have some confidence in me! I'm telling you I've been through this before! Just because reality goes to hell doesn't mean I can't know what I'm doing sometimes. I'm telling you, trust me. Not my thorns, me!

I know what I'm doing and am lucid in my panic. Bleue swallowed her anger and we parted way.

It's painful sometimes, but we grow.

I know what to do, even if I don't like it.

So I headed to the tower of hell on my own, with Ana watching over me from a distance obviously.

~

I entered the toxic area with a wet cloth over my face, fighting nausea, real nausea.

I headed rapidly toward the tower Ana softly pointed me toward from the sky.

In a district of high towers over a now dry river.

Immense towers, taller than the Eiffel tower by far, and wider.

I climb the stairs all day long. I couldn't breathe anymore.

But I eventually arrived above the toxic cloud level. And later on, I entered his domain.

Daiûas like that create a domain of influence, and it acts as an extension of their own body. Like cobwebs.

So it already begun creating its own, on its own image.

It feels like I entered water depths. Things get slower, muffled. And it feels like I can see ghosts or souls swimming around.

I rest a moment before entering the last level, the end of the staircase. The main hall there is collapsed and the roof as well, making a rocky path to the summit of this tower rocky like a mountain peak.

I climb it, looking at a sky turning dark turquoise.

On this place, the wind dies. It feels like I'm in a bowl of water. I could almost see giant fishes slowly swimming between the other buildings down there and the streets.

The Judge welcomes me, like I expected.

J - Welcome mother. Isn't my other mother with you?

R - She felt a little weak. She fell sick. She couldn't come this far...Before we discuss anything else, tell me, why do you have this voice?

J - It's the only male voice you clearly remember.

R - Ah, I see. It's true I guess.

I was a sheltered child. But that doesn't matter really, I was just puzzled.

I step closer to Judge.

R - What are you trying to do? Have you thought about what I told you?

J - What you said to me is irrelevant mother. I'm slowly taking control over what is mine.

I feel so sad. It's just sad, sad, sad.

R - Judge... You're no god. Pour child thinking he knows everything, and worst, believes he already understand everything. I'm not your mother, and you're not a god in any form. However you are here because of me, that is true. But not as your mother.

J - You won't shake my will.

R - You don't understand... I'm not here to convince you anymore. I'm here to have you face a reality beyond what you can currently see. I'm here to open your eyes and make you face the consequences of your choices, before they become actions.

I can feel his trouble, his anxiety. I push further, opening a hand to him and looking at him clearly.

R - I created you, Judge. I am your god. Now step down before I judge that you're not fit to exist in this world. Make your choice....

~